The Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary, also known as the "Royal and Renowned Basilica Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary" (Spanish: ''Real e Insigne Basílica de la Asunción de la Bienaventurada Virgen María''), is a significantly important and historic landmark in
León,
Nicaragua
Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...
. The cathedral was awarded
World Heritage Site
World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...
status with the
(UNESCO). The site's nomination is Nicaragua's third cultural landmark, following the ruins of
León Viejo
Ruins of León Viejo is a World Heritage Site in Nicaragua. It was the original location of León. It is the present location of the town of Puerto Momotombo in the Municipality of La Paz Centro of the Department of León. It is administered by ...
and
El Güegüense.
Construction
The cathedral's construction lasted between 1747 and 1814 and was consecrated by
Pope Pius IX
Pope Pius IX (; born Giovanni Maria Battista Pietro Pellegrino Isidoro Mastai-Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878. His reign of nearly 32 years is the longest verified of any pope in hist ...
in 1860.
Cathedral has maintained the status of being the largest cathedral in Central America and one of the best known in the Americas due to its distinct architecture and special cultural importance.
Architecture
The architectural design was developed in 1762 by the Guatemalan architect
Diego José de Porres Esquivel
Diego is a Spanish masculine given name. The Portuguese equivalent is Diogo. The etymology of Diego is disputed, with two major origin hypotheses: ''Tiago'' and ''Didacus''.
The name also has several patronymic derivations, listed below.
...
. It blends the
Baroque
The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...
and
Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative arts, decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiq ...
styles with some influences from
Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, a Germanic people
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Gothic alphabet, an alphabet used to write the Gothic language
** Gothic ( ...
,
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...
and
Mudéjar
Mudéjar were Muslims who remained in Iberia in the late medieval period following the Christian reconquest. It is also a term for Mudéjar art, which was greatly influenced by Islamic art, but produced typically by Christian craftsmen for C ...
styles. Thus the building can be categorized as belonging to the
Eclecticism
Eclecticism is a conceptual approach that does not hold rigidly to a single paradigm or set of assumptions, but instead draws upon multiple theories, styles, or ideas to gain complementary insights into a subject, or applies different theories i ...
style.
The cathedral has a rectangular plan, of a type general in those centuries and similar to those of the cathedrals of Lima and Cuzco,
Peru
Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...
. The towers and the facade are mainly Neoclassical.
The cathedral has a nave and four aisles, ten arched bays and two towers in the facade, flanking a central round pediment marking the position of the nave. The sacrarium, whose salient breaks the rectangular symmetry of the building on the South side, is located almost parallel to the biggest altar.
Their interior is roomy and its columns cruciform; the central nave is divided by columns from the lateral aisles and the structure is finished off over the crossing by a great dome.
The facade, elevated on a terrace, combines Baroque show with the neoclassical style.
The windows are arched and the two towers have Chinese domes.
Due to the robustness of its walls, the cathedral has survived tremors, volcanic eruptions of the
Cerro Negro
Cerro Negro is an active volcano in the Cordillera de los Maribios mountain range in Nicaragua, about from the village of Malpaisillo. It is a very new volcano, the youngest in Central America, having first appeared in April 1850. It consist ...
volcano and wars.
Seven tunnels start under the church and lead to the other churches in the city.
The church has seven cellars; they provide stability in the event of earthquakes. One of these cellars leads to the tunnels that make their way to the other churches in the city. Above ground, the church has 34 domes which help provide both ventilation and light; "the building is one of the best naturally illuminated cathedrals in America". People were offered the possibility to be buried below the cathedral, helping to fund the construction and maintenance of the building.
Historical value
The cathedral has the historical value of being the Episcopal first
diocese
In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop.
History
In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...
of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, founded in 1531 and therefore one of the oldest dioceses in America. It is currently the headquarters of the
Diócesis of León.
Beneath the cathedral, in crypts designed to survive
earthquakes
An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they c ...
, the mortal remains of 27 people rest, among them 10 bishops, 5 priests, an eminent leader of the independence movement, three poets, a musician, six notables and a slave.
Here are buried prominent Nicaraguan people, such as
Miguel Larreynaga, poets
Rubén Darío
Félix Rubén García Sarmiento (18 January 1867 – 6 February 1916), known as Rubén Darío ( , ), was a Nicaraguan poet who initiated the Spanish-language literary movement known as '' modernismo'' (modernism) that flourished at the end of ...
,
Salomón de la Selva and
Alfonso Cortés
Alfonso Cortés (9 December 1893 – 3 February 1969) was a Nicaraguan poet. He is often referred to as the second-most-important Nicaraguan poet, with Rubén Darío, who initiated the Spanish-American literary movement known as modernismo (modern ...
, the musician
José de la Cruz Mena
José de la Cruz Mena (3 May 187422 September 1907) was a Nicaraguan composer. When he was twenty-one years old he contracted leprosy, but continued to compose until his death twelve years later. Mena is considered to have been one of the most pr ...
, doctor Luis H. Debayle, professor Edgardo Buitrago, the first bishop of León and last bishop of all of Nicaragua, Monsignor Simeón Pereira, and Bishop Castellón and the priest Marcelino Areas.
The tomb of Darío, father of the Modernist movement in Spanish-language literature and considered ''Prince of Castilian letters'', is to the foot of the
statue
A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or Casting (metalworking), cast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to ...
of
San Pablo.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Bishop, Monsignor Simón Pereira y Castellón (the same who presided over the funeral of Darío the 13 February 1916) commissioned the Granadan sculptor Jorge Navas Cordonero to make the statue of the
Virgin Mary
Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...
crowning the central pediment of the facade, and the Atlantes between the pediment and the towers. Navas also sculpted the Neoclassical statues of the Twelve Apostles next to the columns of the central nave, the
lion
The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'', native to Sub-Saharan Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body (biology), body; a short, rounded head; round ears; and a dark, hairy tuft at the ...
of Dario's tomb, very similar to the Lion of Lucerne,
Switzerland
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
(carved by the
Danish sculptor
Bertel Thorvaldsen
Albert Bertel Thorvaldsen (; sometimes given as Thorwaldsen; 19 November 1770 – 24 March 1844) was a Danes, Danish-Icelanders, Icelandic Sculpture, sculptor and medallist, medalist of international fame, who spent most of his life (1797–183 ...
, 1770–1844), the sculpture of Christ marking Monsignor Pereira's tomb, and several other decorations inside the Cathedral and its Chapel of the
Sacrarium
A piscina is a shallow basin placed near the altar of a church, or else in the vestry or sacristy, used for washing the communion vessels. The sacrarium is the drain itself. Lutherans and Anglicans usually refer to the basin, calling it a piscin ...
.
File:Cathedral of León (Nicaragua) in 1852.jpg, alt=Cathedral of León in 1852., Cathedral of León in 1852
File:LeonNicaraguaCathedral1900.jpg, León Cathedral in 1900
File:Léon Cathedral in 1907 (Nicaragua).jpg, alt=Cathedral of León in 1907., Cathedral of León in 1907
File:Cathedral of León (Nicaragua) in 1924.jpg, Cathedral of León circa 1950s or 1960s
File:Interior of the Cathedral of León (NIcaragua) in 1927.jpg, Interior of the Cathedral of León (Nicaragua) in 1927
It is also home to a splinter of the original cross upon which Jesus died.
Illustrious figures buried in the Cathedral
*Bishops: Diego Alvaréz de Osorio, Francisco de Mendavia and Antonio de Valdivieso, the first three bishops of Nicaragua, whose remains were transferred from
León Viejo
Ruins of León Viejo is a World Heritage Site in Nicaragua. It was the original location of León. It is the present location of the town of Puerto Momotombo in the Municipality of La Paz Centro of the Department of León. It is administered by ...
on February 26, 2008. Juan Benito Garret y Arlovi, Domingo Antonio Zattarain, José Antonio Flores de Ribero, Juan Carlos Vílchez y Cabrera,
Nicolás García Jerez
Nicolás García Jerez (28 January 1757 – 31 July 1825) was a Spanish bishop, who also served as a governor of Nicaragua, and played an important role in Nicaraguan independence.
He was appointed Bishop of Nicaragua in 1806, ordained in 1810, a ...
,
Simeón Pereira y Castellón, Agustín Nicolás Tigerino y Loáisiga and Cesár Bosco Vivas Robelo.
*Priests: José Desiderio de la Quadra, Remigio Casco, Rafael Jerez (brother of the independentist hero Máximo Jerez and the painter Toribio Jerez), Félix Pereira y Castellón and Marcelino Areas.
*Independence hero Miguel Larreynaga (1772-1847), rather, his offspring, whose ashes were brought from Guatemala in the 1970s.
*The poets:
Rubén Darío
Félix Rubén García Sarmiento (18 January 1867 – 6 February 1916), known as Rubén Darío ( , ), was a Nicaraguan poet who initiated the Spanish-language literary movement known as '' modernismo'' (modernism) that flourished at the end of ...
(1867-1916),
Salomón de la Selva (1893-1959) and
Alfonso Cortés
Alfonso Cortés (9 December 1893 – 3 February 1969) was a Nicaraguan poet. He is often referred to as the second-most-important Nicaraguan poet, with Rubén Darío, who initiated the Spanish-American literary movement known as modernismo (modern ...
(1893-1969).
*The musician José de la Cruz Mena, whose ashes were transferred from the Guadalupe Cemetery on May 3, 1998.
*Notable: Alfonso Ayón, Pedro Argüello, mayor of León. Leocadia del Prado Arguello; the wise doctor Luis H. Debayle and his wife Casimira Sacasa; Professor Edgardo Buitrago.
*A saint slave, according to Ernesto Cardenal's collection of facts.
World Heritage
Due to its great artistic, cultural and historical value, on June 28, 2011, it was elevated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to the category of World Heritage Site, being the second in the history of this country.
Four new sites inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List
official UNESCO (28-6-2011)
In its statement, UNESCO described the Nicaraguan architectural sight as follows:
The cathedral of León in Nicaragua was built between 1747 and the beginning of the 19th century with designs by the Guatemalan architect Diego José de Porres Esquivel. It expresses the transition from baroque to neoclassical architecture and its style can be considered eclectic. The cathedral is characterized by the sobriety of its interior decoration and the abundance of natural light. The vault of the sanctuary presents a very rich ornamentation. The cathedral has in its interior important works of art, including a Flemish
Flemish may refer to:
* Flemish, adjective for Flanders, Belgium
* Flemish region, one of the three regions of Belgium
*Flemish Community, one of the three constitutionally defined language communities of Belgium
* Flemish dialects, a Dutch dialec ...
altar and paintings of the 14 stations of the Via Crucis by the Nicaraguan artist Antonio Sarria.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leon Cathedral (Nicaragua)
Roman Catholic churches in León, Nicaragua
Roman Catholic churches completed in 1814
1747 establishments in the Spanish Empire
World Heritage Sites in Nicaragua
Roman Catholic cathedrals in Nicaragua
Tourist attractions in Nicaragua
Baroque architecture in Nicaragua